Banking is considered as one of the most sought-after career options in India and lakhs of candidates sit for banking exams every year. Recruitment of Probationary Officers/Management Trainees in Participating Organisations, commonly known as IBPS PO, is conducted by the Institute of Banking Personnel Selection (IBPS) for recruitment to the post of Probationary Officers/Management Trainee (PO/MT). IBPS provides recruitment and training services to a common standard for public sector banks (PSB). The exam consists of prelims, mains and interview. Application for the exam is made online and any graduate can apply for the exam following the eligibility criteria.
In this article, you will get familiarized with the exam, syllabus, registration, application, admit card, results and vacancies.
IBPS PO – Latest Updates & Highlights
Latest Updates
| March 23, 2020 | IBPS PO (VIII) 2018 result of provisional allotment under the reserve list has been delayed due coronavirus outbreak |
| March 17, 2020 | IBPS PO 2019-20 mains scorecard has been released for candidates who have qualified the mains exam. Candidates can download the scorecard until March 31, 2020, |
IBPS PO 2019 exam was notified by the Institute in August 2019 and the recruitment procedure is still under process. For this year’s exam, IBPS PO 2020 registration will open in the month of August 2020 tentatively. The IBPS PO 2020 prelim exams are scheduled to be on 3-4th & 10th October 2020 and IBPS PO Mains exam on 28th November 2020. We get into further details in the next sections.
Features of the IBPS PO Exam
| Mode of Examination | Online |
| Recruitment Stages | Prelims, Mains and Interview |
| Duration | Prelims: 1 hour (60 minutes)
Mains: 3 hours 30 minutes |
| Language | English and Hindi |
| Official Website | https://www.ibps.in/ |
IBPS PO – Key Dates
In this table, we have provided the information on the upcoming tentative dates of IBPS PO 2020 registration, last date to submit application, admit card, prelim exam, prelim result, scorecard, main admit card, main exam, main result, call for interview and final results (provisional allotment of posts).
| Online Registration | August 2020 |
| Last date for registration | August 2020 |
| Editing of application | August 2020 |
| Prelim Exam Admit Card | September 2020 |
| Preliminary Exam | 3rd-4th October 2020
10th October 2020 |
| Prelims Results | November 2020 |
| Main Admit Card | November 2020 |
| Main Exam | 28th November 2020 |
| Main Results | January 2021 |
| Call for Interview | January 2021 |
| Provisional Allotments | April 2021 |
Read More – Civil Services (IAS) Exam – Notification, Application, Syllabus, Vacancies
IBPS PO – Registration, Exam Pattern & Syllabus
First of all, we will look at the eligibility criteria to sit in this banking exam.
Eligibility Criteria
- Must be an Indian citizen or subjects of Nepal/ Bhutan are also eligible
- Candidates who are Tibetan Refugees and came to India before January 1, 1962 may apply.
- People of Indian origin who migrated from Pakistan/ Burma/ Sri Lanka/ Kenya/ Uganda/ the United Republic of Tanzania/ Zambia/ Malawi/ Zaire/ Ethiopia/ Vietnam with the intention of permanently settling down in India may apply.
- Candidates must be between 20 to 30 years. Age relaxation of five, three and ten years is given to SC/ ST, OBC (non-creamy layer), and PwD candidates, respectively.
- Any graduate can apply for IBPS PO exam.
Selection Process
The process starts with the following steps:
- Filling an application form
- Release of admit card
- Prelim and Main exams
- Interview
- Declaration of results
Documents you need beforehand while registering for the IBPS PO exam are:
- Scanned photograph and signature
- Left thumb impression
- A handwritten declaration
- Bank details to pay the form fees
- Graduation marksheet details
- Email ID and contact number
Registration Process Steps:
- Applicants will have to visit the official website of IBPS
- Click the link ‘New Registration’
- Enter name, phone number, email id and security code
- When you have successfully registered, a provisional registration number and password is generated and sent to email ID.
- After registering, candidates need to upload a photograph, signature, left thumb impression and handwritten declaration.
- Then, you have to fill the detailed form with basic details, educational qualification, work experience and preferences.
- Preview the application and proceed to pay the application fee in the next step.
- The application is integrated with payment gateway and payment can be made using debit or credit cards.
- On successful completion of the fee payment, a receipt is generated. General students have to pay INR 600 and SC/ST/PWD candidates have to pay INR 100.
Exam Pattern, Syllabus and Preparation
An overview of the IBPS exam pattern is as following:
| Questions | Prelims: Objective Type
Mains: Objective & Descriptive Type |
| No. of questions | Prelims: 100
Mains: 157 ( including 155 objective-type and 2 descriptive-type questions) |
| Marks in each exam | Prelims: 100
Mains: 225 Interview: 100 |
| Language | English and Hindi |
| Negative marks | 0.25 |
Exam pattern for the Prelim Exam
| Subject | Questions | Marks | Duration (mins) |
| English Language | 30 | 30 | 20 |
| Quantitative Aptitude | 35 | 35 | 20 |
| Reasoning Ability | 35 | 35 | 20 |
| Total Marks | 100 | 100 | 60 |
Prelims of IBPS PO comprises three sections – English, Quantitative Aptitude and Reasoning Ability. The test paper contains 100 objective-type multiple-choice questions. The maximum marks allotted to the test is 100. You get a total time duration of 60 minutes. Time allotted to each section is 20 minutes. One has to qualify each of the three tests by securing the minimum IBPS PO cut off marks. Once you obtain a qualifying mark for the preliminary exam, you get selected for the mains test. The marks obtained in the same will not be counted for final selection.
Mains Exam Pattern & Syllabus
Mains exam comprises both objective and descriptive type tests. The objective section of the question paper carries 155 questions from Reasoning & Computer Aptitude, General/ Economy/ Banking, English Language and Data Analysis & Interpretation. You are given 3 hours to solve the objective paper. The total marks allotted for the objective section is 200 and the descriptive section carries 2 questions from English Language (Letter Writing & Essay) for which duration of the descriptive paper is 30 minutes. The total marks allotted to the descriptive paper is 25 marks. At the end, both marks from objective and descriptive tests will be considered for shortlisting for final interview. The marks obtained in mains are considered in the final selection of the candidates.
| Subject | Questions | Duration (mins) | Marks |
| English | 35 | 40 | 40 |
| Data Interpretation and Analysis | 35 | 45 | 60 |
| Reasoning and Computing skills | 45 | 60 | 60 |
| General Awareness | 40 | 35 | 40 |
| Total Marks | 155 | 180 | 200 |
| English (Essay and Letter Writing) | 2 | 30 minutes | 25 |
| Total (including essay) | 157 | 3 hours 30 mins | 225 |
The candidates should have been taught the topics covered in the exam, or else the candidates should have studied them in Class 10, 12 and graduation. The English section comprises reading comprehension, cloze test, para jumbles, fill in the blanks, etc. The Quantitative Ability section comprises topics such as Simplification, Profit & Loss, Work & Time etc. More details on the topics will be discussed in our other articles.
IBPS PO – Admit Card
Admit card is scheduled to be released in September for IBPS PO 2020 exam. Here are the steps to download the admit card:
- One needs to visit the official website of IBPS
- Click on the link ‘IBPS PO admit card’ on the homepage
- Enter the login credentials such as registration number or roll number, date of birth or password
- IBPS PO admit card 2019 for exam appears on the screen. You can download the admit card and take its printout.
IBPS PO – Result and Cut off
To check results, follow the steps below:
- Visit the official website of IBPS.
- Click on ‘result link’ and you can enter your registration details.
- Then, you will get results displayed on the screen. Consequently, you can download the results.
What does the scorecard contain?
- Name of candidate
- Roll number
- Registration number
- Date of exam
- Category
- Maximum score overall and section-wise
- IBPS PO cut off marks
- Overall marks and section wise marks
Cut off Marks
The cut off marks is the minimum score that examinees need to secure at an overall level and section level to qualify the exam and become eligible for interview.
The factors on which the the cut off marks are based:
- How many candidates have appeared for the exam?
- How difficult is the exam?
- Total marks
- Number of vacancies
IBPS PO – FAQs
Q. Can a candidate appearing in graduation final year apply for IBPS PO exam?
No, candidates must complete their graduation to be eligible for the IBPS PO exam.
Q. Can candidates who are 19 years of age be eligible for the IBPS PO exam?
No, to be eligible for the IBPS PO exam, your age should be between 20-30 years.
Q. What is the medium of instruction in the IBPS PO exam?
Both English and Hindi are used as medium of instruction in the IBPS PO exam.
Q. How is the final merit list prepared in the IBPS PO Exam?
The mains marks and interview assessment is combined to select the best candidate for the post of probationary officers.
Q. Is there a minimum score required in graduation to be eligible for IBPS PO exam?
UPSC has not prescribed any minimum marks for graduation and students are eligible for the IBPS PO exam if they have completed their graduation.
Q. Does IBPS release the answer key for the PO exam?
No, IBPS does not release the answer key since it is an online mode exam.